Method and apparatus for producing a bulky yarn



Feb. 3, 1970 A. MARZOCCHI ETAL 3,492,802

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A BULKY YARN Original Filed Dec. 19, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ALFRED MARZOCC/vl, Gusmv 5 BENSON &

Roan? Ml. ROTH INVENTORS ,4 TTOR/VEVS Feb; 3, 1970. A. MARZOCCHI ETAL 3,492,892

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A BULKY YARN Original Filed Deg. 19, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 41.5?50 MAPZOCCHI, Gusmv f. BEA/SON &

Roam MA R0 7'H INVENTORS Arrow/5m Feb. 3, 1970 A. mazocd-ll ETAL 3,492,802

METHOD: AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A BULKY YARN Original Filed Dec. 19, 1962 aSheets-sheet s llLl-AED MARZOCCHI, Gusmv 5 flax/501v &

ROGER M R0 TH INVENTORS Arm/Mfrs Patented Feb. 3, I979 3,492,802 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A BULKY YARN Alfred Marzocchi, Cumberland, and Gustav E. Benson,-

Greenville, R and Roger W. Roth, Granville, Ohio, assignors to flwensvCorning Fiberglas Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Original application Dee.19,1962, Ser. No. 245,880, new Patent No. 3,410,077. Divided and this application Feb. 7, I968, Sen No. 718,649

Int. Cl. 1302;; 3/36 US. Cl. 57--7 V 8-.-Claims ABSTRACT on THE orsctosrme Method and apparatus for producing a bulky yarn wherein fibers of the faster of two moving strands are lfilamentized and incorporated with the other, slower strand so that loops of the faster moving, filamentized strand are formed along the length of the slower strand, and fixed in place.

This invention relates to bulky yarns and to apparatus and methods for their production. More particularly,

' this invention relates to bulky yarns made from a plu rality of strands of continuous glass fibers wherein loop yarns are produced with the loops thereof expanded to filamentized form. Thus, novel products are made in accordance with the present invention and novel methods and apparatus are inherent in their production.

This is a division of copend'ing application Ser. No. 245,880; filed Dec. 19, 1962, now Patent No. 3,410,077.

THE ESSENCE OF THE PRIOR ART It is well recognized in the prior art-that unusual textured fabrics can be produced from novelty yarns such as loop and boucle yarns wherein the yarns are characterized by loops of a second yarn carried upon a first or tensioned carrier yarn. A loop yarn is self-descriptive, and

- a boucle has a third spiral wrapped strand to hold the loop strand to the carrier strand.

Other novelty yarns include slub yarns having inserted tufts or balls of loose yarn incorporated into a base yarn; and knop yarns having enlarged knobs formed by twisting one yarn end about another end many times within a very short space, causing enlargements on the surface of .the yarn.

THE PROBLEM From the foregoing it will be noted that these prior art novelty yarns have used either tight loops, as in a loop yarn; tight loops held by a binder yarn, as in a boucle; tufted balls of loose yarn that are partly concealed by 'insertion in a base yarn, to-wit, a s'lub; or the tight exposed knobs of the knop yarn.

To provide greater esthetic appeal, the novel yarns should display wool-like resilient knubs along the length of the base yarn. Thus, the prior products do not display a truly wool-like characteristic of many exposed or fiufr'ed fibers at the loops. Thus, none of the prior yarns are fully filamentized at the loops to form a truly wool-like product.

Accordingly, novelty yarns displaying a truly woollike resilient loop characteristic along the length that is adapted to processing by conventional looms would provide a substantial advancement in the art. Apparatus and method for the production of such products would also provide a substantial contribution to the art.

Another object is to provide a method for producing the novel bulky yarns.

And a further object is to provide apparatus for producing the novel bulky yams.

Another object is to provide a methodttor producing novelty loop yarns from strands wherein the looped yarn is filamentized at the point of incorporation into the finished product.

A further object is to provide a method o'fforming novelty loop yarns from continuous glass strands wherein all fibers going into the product are placed under a constant tension during production and thus are of uniform size as distinguished from forming processes for analogous products in the prior art.

Another object .is to provide apparatus for the production of novelty loop yarns from continuous fibers wherein the fibers of the loop yarn can be made of difler ing diameters as compared to the fibers of the carrier yarn, and wherein the loops are filamentized to provide a novel product.

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation, partly sectioned, of apparatus for producing continuous fibers from heatsofenable materials, such as glass;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of FIGURE 1, also partly sectioned;

FIGURE 3 is an elevation view of apparatus used 'for the invention for producing novel loop yarns directly from a continuous fiber forming operation and packaging the so-produced, novel yarn;

FIGURE 5 is an illustrative view of apparatus for producing novelty loop yarns from at least two previously produced separate fibrous strands;

FIGURE 6 is a side view of apparatus for application with apparatusof FIGURES 3 and 4 to apply constant tension to the strand feed to the pull wheels and thereby prevent overrun andiooping' at the guide wheels;

FIGURE 7 is an elevational view of apparatus and illustrating another method of filamentizing a loop yarn;

FIGURE 8 is still another view of apparatus used for filamentizing the loop yarns for use in the invention; 1

FIGURE 9 is a greatly enlarged perspective view of a PERSPECTIVE VIEW Briefly, the present invention relates to thcproduction of novelty loop yarns wherein both a carrier yarn and the loop yarn are formed under conditions of constant tension in initial fiber production and yarn formation, thus assuring the production of fibers of uniform diameter in the finished product; and the so-called' overrun or loop strand is filamentized prior to combination in the final product yarn. This basic concept of the invention is applicable both to the production of a novel loop yam directly from the forming operation, and also from previeusly formed strands, in a twisting operation, with various methods for filamentizing the'loop yarn becoming a part of the invention.

The extended scope of invention also logically includes the product wherein the carrier strand is tensioned and the loop strand is filamentized', thus exhibiting a realistic wool-like product as regards feel and weaving character- 1 ist-ics, and to the method of production.

Although the invention will be illustrated relative to the production of glass fibers, it is to be understood that the invention is applicable to substantially any continuously producible fil amenlizable material.

THE ENVIRONMENT By reference to FlGURES 1 and 2, a typical environmental background reloting to the formation of continuous glass fibers from a body of molten glass will be briefly described.

Thus, as shown in these figures of the drawings, con tinuous glass fibers are formed utilizing a melterfeeder or bushing 12, heated as hereinafter described to provide a body of molten glass 14. Thus, the bushing 12 is provided with electrical terminals 16 at each end, FIG- URE 2, to which electrical lines 18 and 20 are connected whereby electric current is passed through the bushing to heat the same by its own internal resistance. An insulating refractory 22 is provided around the bushing 12 to retain heat and thereby improve efliciencies.

Although not shown, a means for feeding glass marbles or powdered glass-forming materials, typified by a suit able chute or hopper is provided above the bushing 12.

Glass-forming materials are fed by gravity into the bushing 12 at a controlled rate. In the bushing 12, the glass-forming materials are converted into molten glass to provide the body 14 which is exuded downwardly from a plurality of apertures 24, formed in aligned array over the bottom of the bushing, as small molten. streams 26. The streams 26 are attenuated into the fibers 10 by being pulled as will be hereinafter described, and the fibers 10 Kare passed into tangential contact with a sizing belt 28 operating over a roll 30 and a guide 32. The roll 30 is positioned within a size container 34 that retains a liquid body of size 36, with the bottom portion of roll 30 being immersed in the liquid size; thus, as the belt 28 passes over the roll 30 it is wetted to transfer the size to the fibers 10 during their tangential passage over the belt at the guide point 32. A conduit 38 supplies fresh size to the container 34 and an exhaust conduit 40 recirculates the size to a central source for purification and enrich ment to assure a fresh, clean supply.

A depending arm 42, attached to the size container 34, supports a gathering guide 44 which takes the form of a small wheel having a V-shaped groove in the periphery and that is made of wear-resistant material such as graphite. The wheel form is desirably used in the guide 44, so that as wear develops, the wheel can be indexed to bring a new gathering surface into position for accurate fiber gathering. This belt, wheel-guide arrangement is considered an advance in the art over the earlier used. saturated wool gathering pads which, of course, needed replacement because of the cutting action of the fibers on. the wood pad.

After the fibers 10 pick up a coating of size by contact with the wetted belt 28 at the point 32, they are con verged into a strand 46 by the V-periphery of the gathering guides 44. The strand 46 is then passed downwardly to apparatus forming part of the present invention and wherein an attenuating force is provided, and a complete description of the apparatus of invention and method and product produced will now follow:

THE INVENTION The apparatus The embodiment of figure 3.By reference to FIG URE 3, which represents a first embodiment of the invention, it should be noted that the strand. 47 is designated a slow strand and that the strand 50 is designated a fast strand.

Now discussing strand 47 first, it will be noted that this strand proceeds downwardly to an idler roll 48, which has a braking mechanism attached thereto to be subsequently described with reference to FIGURE 6. The strand 47 half laps the idler roll 48 and thence proceeds vertically upwardly to a wheel puller 52, rotatably driven in the arrow 54 direction by mechanism such as a suit able electric motor, not shown. As the strand 47 laps the puller 52 to the point 56 it is tangentially thrown from the puller to a filamentizer 58, here exemplified as a tangential air blower.

Now referring to the fast strand 50, it will be noted that an adjustable speed idler wheel 60 is half lapped and 4 that. the strand then proceeds vertically upwardly to a second wheel. puller 62 which it half laps and is tangentially thrown to the air blower 58 from the point 64.

Now it will be understood that the two strands 46 and 50 are combined at the air blower 58, and it is at this point that the invention truly reflects itself.

Thus, strand 50 will be understood to be moving faster than the slow strand 47 and will thus be in a slack condition as compared to the slow strand within the air blower 58. Loop formation thus starts at this point and as the loops are formed, e.g., as the strand is slackened it will be understood that the action of the air of blower 58 tends to separate or filamentize the individual fibers 10 of the faster strand 50.

Incorporation of the fast and slow strands, the fast strand having been filamentized, is effected by substantially instantaneously at the point of filamentization imparting a twist to the two strands to interlock them and preserve the loop form produced by the fast strand.

For this purpose, the two strands are ballooned downwardly as at 66 to a winding mechanism designated 68, typically comprising a cap winder 70 operating over a rotating package 72. Rotating package 72 is suitably carried on a conventional textile yarn twist frame adapted for glass fiber processing, and it is to be understood that as the balloon 66 circumscribes the package 72, a desired number of twists or turns per inch is imparted to the combination strand 74. The twist is effective to retain the loop form of the fast strand 50 in the package 72.

Although the cap winder 70 forms no essential part of the present invention, it will nevertheless be described to provide full clarity of description for the reader. Thus, the cap winder 70 operates in conjunction with a motor 71 having a hollow shaft 71s supporting a collet 710 that carries a winding tube 721. Beneath the motor 71 is located a fiuid cylinder 69 including a piston rod 69r, ex-= tending up through the hollow shaft 71s of the motor 71. The piston rod 69r is pointed at the top end to receive cap 70, having an appropriate internal socket. The cap 70 does not rotate and accordingly the angularity of the bottom edge controls lay of strand on the package 72. Movement of the cylinder rod 69r in an up and down manner provides yarn traverse on. the package 72.

This product may be used as is; however, as known in the art, the product will be wild, and if desired may be plied with another combination strand of like configuration provide a balanced product.

Regarding the foregoing description, it is to be under-= stood that the fast strand 50 moves at a higher linear speed than the slow strand to provide the loops indicated at 74 for the combined strand. Relative speeds in the range from 1.25 to 2 the speed of the slow strand can be induced into the fast strand to provide variations in loop lengths and bulk of the finished yarn '74, and these are not to be considered limiting on the invention. How" ever, a ratio in. the range of about 2v to 1 has been found to provide a very satisfactory final product.

As mentioned. hereinbefore, is an advantage of the present invention that during forming, all fibers are under constant tension assuring uniform. diameters. One might well ask at this point if the strand 47 is pulled at a slower rate than the strand 50, how can all fibers be of the same diameter? This is answered by adjustment of the size of the apertures 24 to produce molten streams commensurate with drawing speeds to have all fiber of uniform diameter if desired. However, a logical extension of the invention would include all apertures 24 of both bushings being of the same size so that all glass streams are of the same size and thus the fibers of the slow strand would be larger in diameter than. the fiber of the fast strand. 1t is evident that some end products would advantageously employ such a combined yarn 74 including such differing diam eter fibers in the two strands.

The embndiirzent of FIGURE 4.-Reference to FIG URE 4 will indicate that essentially the same phenomenon or effect as produced in FIGURE 3 can be provided by using two individual bushings 12; or optionally a single bushing, split as known in the art, to produce slow and fast strands 47 and 50. It will be noted in this embodiment that the strands 47, 50 are run over two side-by-side idler-tension rolls 76 and thence passed to a stepped single wheel puller designated by the reference numeral 78, to produce the differential in speed between the strands 47 and 50. It will be noted that the puller 78 has a section 80 of larger periphery and a section 82 of smaller periphery.

As previously described for the pullers of FIGURE 3, the strands are ejected from the periphery tangentially as at the point 84 and directed to the tangential air blower 58, so designated because of the same configuration as in FIGURE 3. Subsequent processing is as described in FIG- URE 3, comprising ballooning as at 66 with downward movement to winding mechanism 68, characterized by a textile twisting frame utilizing a cap winder 70 and forming a package 72. The combined strand 74 with looped and carrier strand in combination is accordingly produced.

The embodiment of FIGURE 5.A logical extension of the concept of the present invention is illustrated in FIGURE 5 wherein packages 86 and 88, as from a conventional textile forming operation, are utilized as starting materials for processing in accordance with the invention.

Thus, for purposes of description, the strand 90 moving from the package 88 will be designated the slower or carrier strand that is moved downwardly to pull rolls 91, 92 and thence to a guide eye 94. It will be noted that this is a slight departure from feeding both strands into the tangential air blower as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4; however, the same effect is provided. The slower strand in this embodiment and the foregoing embodiment would be prevented from filamentizing in the air blower 58 because of constant tension. It is the faster strand which is filamentized because of the slack developed therein in its faster running or overrunning compared to the slower strand.

Accordingly, the faster strand 96 is moved downwardly to pull rods 98, 100, thence to the tangential air blower 58, previously mentioned. From the air blower 58, where the faster strand 96 is filamentized, the filamentized strand designated 102 moves to the guide eye 94 for incorporation with the slow strand 90. Briefly, this includes a balloon as at 66 to the twister spindle 68, carrying a ring and traveler 104 as distinguished from the cap winder 70 of FIGURES 3 and 4, to form the combined strand 74 containing filamentized loops.

Supporting elemental details of the invention The idler wheel brake.ln the description above regarding FIGURES 3 and 4, it was indicated that the idler wheels 48, 60 and 76 were provided with suitable braking mechanism to prevent overruning of the strands and malfunction due to looping, wheel puller slippage and the like.

Accordingly, one suitable mechanism for providing an adjustable braking effect and thus a constant tension through the medium of idler wheels 48, 60 and 76 is shown in FIGURE 6. This comprises a small centrifugal air blower, including a housing 106, within which a vane wheel 108 is rotated on a shaft 110, common to the shaft of the idler wheel 48, 60' or 76 of FIGURES 3 and 4. It will be noted that the housing 106 is provided with an inlet 112 and an outlet 114 and that in the outlet duct 114 therein is imposed an adjustable valve 116 to control air flow from the unit and thereby impose a variable load on the vane Wheel 108. It will be understood that the larger amount of air pumped or the larger opening of the valve 116 gives a greater load and thus reduces speed, tending to impose a proper restraint upon one of the guide wheels 48, 60, 76 and thereby efi'ectively controls tension with a minimum expenditure for apparatus.

Due to the fluid nature of the air being pumped, it will be found that a certain degree of flexibility or tol- 6 erance is actually provided for each setting of the valve 116.

This element may be characterized broadly as a fluid brake.

The air jet filamentizer.-As shown in FIGURE 7, one suitable filamentizer includes a plurality of gas directing nozzles 118, attached to the forward ends of conduits 120. It will be noted that jets 122 are directed into colliding relation with one another as indicated by the blast zone 124 where the slack in the fast strand, typically designated 50, begins to develop and thus, the filaments or fiber 10 are blasted apart as indicated by the reference numeral 124. The filamentized strand 126 is thereafter directed to a guide eye 94 for combination with a slower, tensioned strand, characterized by the reference numerals 47, 90. As indicated, from the guide eye 94, the filamentized strand 126 and the taut strand 47, 90, proceed to a twister, thereby forming an integrated, coherent product.

The slack roll filamentizer.Referring to FIGURE 8, there is shown an alternate method and apparatus for filamentizing within the scope of invention. Thus, a high speed or fast strand 50 is run between a first pair of slack inducing rolls 128, in peripheral contact and driven in the arrow 130 direction. These are spaced from a second pair of slack inducing rolls 132 with the yarn length between the rolls being :adjusted to be greater than the length between the axes of the rolls 128 and 132.

It may be found that because of the previous set to the binder applied to the fibers in forming, that an optional gas jet 134 Will be necessary to provide optimum filamentizing in the zone designated 136. In any event, this strand produced is filamentized as indicated at 126, in a manner analogous to the showing of FIGURE 7, and moves to a guide eye 94 for combination with a slow strand 47, 90 and thence to a subjacent twister, as exemplified by the arrow 95.

The product of invention The product of the present invention is illustrated more clearly in the enlarged view of FIGURE 9 wherein the tensioned multi-fiber or monofilament carrier strand is designated 47, 90 and the loop strand 50, 96. Note the exposed end of the carrier strand and the integrity illustrated in the fibers. Note in contrast the filamentized configuration of the individual fibers at the bight 138 of the loop 137, wherein the individual fibers 10 are clearly exposed and separated from one another.

The distinguishable and contrasting prior art product is illustrated in FIGURE 10. Note the tight configuration of the loops indicated by the reference numeral 140'.

Process summation The process of invention essentially resides in the following aspects:

(1) Providing a first linearly moving carrier strand;

(2) Providing a second linearly moving multi-fiber loop strand at a rate greater than the rate of l, to provide loop formation;

(3) Fiberizing the second strand, at some point in its history;

(4) Combining the two strands at the lineal rate of travel of the first or slower strand to provide loops along the length of the carrier; and

(5) At least relatively fixing the configuration of the loops and their disposition along the length of the carrier strand.

General comments and extended scope As regards production of the product of invention in accordance with the forming methods of FIGURES 3 and 4, it will be understood that the size applied at the point 44 will still be wet upon entrance of the slow strand into the tangential air blower or filamentizer 58. At this point it will of course be understood that at least part of the moisture will be ejected from the fibers and thus impart a set to the solids of the size and binder which remain; and thus tend to give the filamentized fibers a set in the filamentized condition.

This is a definitely unexpected result over the prior art which, as far as the present inventors are knowledgeable, does not even contemplate the filamentizing aspect of the present invention.

Thus, as the size is partially dired, the filamentized fibers stay blasted open. This enhances the woolly characteristic or wool-like feel of the product as distinguished from the prior art analogous materials, which as pointed out above, are of tight-looped configuration.

Processing speeds according to the present invention are substantially flexible, being variable in the range from about 300 feet per minute to as high as 10,000 to 12,000 feet per minute. At these higher speeds, of course, the braking or tensioning effect provided by the blower brake of FIGURE 6 becomes especially valuable in contributing to the efficiency of the processing of the invention.

It should be pointed out that the present invention is distinguishable from the known prior art by the use of a constant tension applied to the individual fibers or filaments during their formation, as contrasted to the prior art where slack is developed to give a crinkled type fiber in the carried yarn, which of course means that such crinkled fibers are of erratic varying diameters and are of generally enlarged diameter. The invention is also distinguishable from a plain looped fiber or boucle yarn on a tensioned carrier in that in the prior art there was no filamentization of the individual fibers of the loop yarn as has been discovered in accordance with the present invention.

It is also to be understood in view of the foregoing that the present invention contemplates processing speeds tremendously in excess of those contemplated in the prior art, typical prior figures as regards production of fibers from regenerated cellulose solutions on the order of 1,000 meters per minute maximum for orifices of diameter 0.075 mm. and 0.10 mm. Actually, the prior art states that it is usually preferable that the linear extrusion rate employed for a given spinning solution using orifices of a given diameter should not greatly exceed the minimum rate at which crinkled filaments are formed under these conditions, since considerably higher rates not only involve the use of spinning pressures that may be inconveniently high, but may also give a less satisfactory product.

The present invention is also clearly distinguishable from regenerated cellulose made into nubby yarns wherein a pulsating motion is imparted to the viscose filamentforming solution prior to its passage through the spinning cell, or the filaments, after formation, may be drawn at abruptly changing linear speeds. As pointed out before, filament formation is characterised in accordance with the present invention by constant tension being applied to the filaments for attenuation purposes. Thus, no pulsating motion to the forming mass or to the strands or fibers is utilized; contributing substantially to improved processing and higher rates of manufacture.

While the foregoing discussion has related to both strands being of the same material, to-wit, made up of a plurality of continuous glass fibers in side-by-side associated or adhered relationship and oriented in a common axial direction, the broad scope of invention would include two different types of strands. That is, the carrier strand in the ultimate yarn can be of soluble material that would dissolve or integrate with a matrix material in which the end product is incorporated, as in a plastic laminate or the like. In another sense, the carrier strand can be stated as a thermoplastic material of a lower melting point than the loop strand, and made of the same material forming the body of the matrix impregnated in the woven material. Thus, the carrier strand, for example, could be made up of acrylic fibers and these would dissolve in an impregnating acrylic resin, forming a panel in which the loop yarn is incorporated as a reinforcement.

Also, the carrier strand could be made of a readily fracturable material, such perhaps as silica fibers that would be sufficiently strong to permit weaving, but would break into smaller lengths during a drafting or drawing of the woven product to conform to shapes as in resin molding operations, such as matched metal molding processes. The broken lengths could be of quartz or glass fibers of sulficiently small yarn diameter that the breakage would occur only during the drawing but not during the weaving operation.

Also, while the foregoing invention has related to glass fibers, it is to be understood that heat-softenable materials broadly capable of attenuation or formation into fine fibers are contemplated Within the broad scope of invention. The tension aspect is also to be understood to encompass regeneratable materials such as viscose, at constant velocity and subsequent blasting.

The invention would also encompass the processing of staple fiber strands.

The combination of the fast strand with the slow strand at the filamentizing blower or guide ring by the present invention can be described by reference to a single point on the fast strand. Thus, when this point is approaching the slow strand, it is moving at a constant forward lineal velocity. However, when it actually wraps onto the carrier or slow strand, the point of contact as distinguished from a part of the loop, moves forward and stops and the loop points continue to move forming the loop and then another point contact abruptly stops. It might be said in describing this phenomenon that a pulsating motion is imparted to some points on the strand as distinguished from others as the overfed strand is moved into the final bulky yarn; thus at least some points are characterized by abruptly changing linear speeds.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION Firstly, it is to be understood that a novel, filamentized, loop yarn is manufactured in accordance with the present invention, thus providing a substantial contribution to the art of manufacture in the utilization of heat-softenable materials, producible as by attenuation from a molten body of the same.

A further advantage of the invention resides in the novel processing contribution to the prior art in the form of application of uniform tension to the fibers during manufacture and the subsequent overrurrning of one of the strands so produced with filamentation before or substantially at the .point of combination with a slower running, tensioned carrier strand.

The present invention also provides a distinct advantage to the art by the contribution of novel apparatus for producing the novel product. Thus, the use of a fiuid brake is contemplated to prevent looping at the idler wheel and, in accordance with the invention, the apparatus provides for the formation of the novel product directly from virgin fiber production. Thus, intermediate handling, labor and processing are omitted, contributing to greater economy of production as contrasted to the prior art methods where a twister prepares loop yarns by feeding one yarn end excessively so that when the binder yarn is applied, loops appear at intervals along the length of the binder yarn. This presumes of course prior strand formation, the pr duct being characterized in FIGURE 10 of the present drawings.

We claim:

1. In apparatus for producing looped yarn,

at least one melter producing a plurality of streams of heat-softenable material,

first means for attenuating a first part of said streams into first continuous fibers at a first linear rate, means guiding said first continuous fibers into a first coherent strand,

second means for attenuating a second part of said streams into second continuous fibers at a second rate,

means guiding said second continuous fibers into a second coherent strand,

one of said first and second rates being greater than the other,

fiber separating means, receiving both said first and second strands,

and twist and draft means simultaneously pulling twisting said strands from said fiber separator means at the slower rate.

2. In apparatus for producing looped yarn,

means for constantly forming first and second coherent strands from a plurality of individual fibers and moving said strands in an axial manner, one strand at a greater forward speed than the other,

a guide positioned in strand receiving relation to said forming means to receive and guide the two strands into contacting relationship,

a strand filamentizer operable within said guide means,

and means for simultaneously pulling and twisting both said strands away from said filamentizer at the slower speed as a looped yarn.

3. In apparatus for producing looped yarn,

a first melter for heat-softenable material to exude a plurality of molten streams,

a first pull wheel positioned to attenuate said streams into a plurality of continuous fibers at a first, lower lineal speed and means for rotating said first pull wheel,

a first strand-forming fiber guide between said melter and said first Wheel,

a second melter for heat-softenable material to exude a plurality of molten streams,

a second pull wheel positioned to attenuate said streams into a plurality of continuous fibers at a speed greater than said first, lower lineal speed and means for rotating said second pull wheel,

a second strand-forming fiber guide between said second melter and said second wheel,

strand blast means positioned to receive both strands and filamentize the fibers of the second greater speed strand,

and means for simultaneously pulling and twisting both strands away from said strand blast means at said first lineal speed.

4. In apparatus for producing a looped yarn,

means for moving a first strand in axial direction at a first, lower speed,

means for moving a second, multi-fibered strand in the same axial direction at a second, higher speed,

means simultaneously directing both of said strands into a turbulence, said turbulence being eifective to separate the fibers of the second, high speed strand and convert the second strand to filamentized loop form along the first strand, and produce a combination strand,

said means moving the first strand, maintaining the first strand taut as it passes through said turbulence,

and means imparting a twist to the combination strand and moving the combination strand away from said turbulence to interlock the two strands and preserve the filamentized loop form of the second strand on the first strand in the combination strand.

5. In apparatus for producing a looped yarn,

means for moving a first strand in axial direction at a first, slower speed,

means for moving a second, multi-fibered strand in the same axial direction at a second, higher speed,

a turbulence producing means receiving said second strand, said turbulence producing means being effective to separate the fibers of the second, higher speed strand and convert said second strand to filamentized form wherein the filamentized fibers are generally straight along the axis of the strand,

a guide simultaneously receiving the two strands and directing them into contact with one another to form a combination strand wherein the second strand appears as filamentized loops along the first strand,

said means moving the first strand maintaining the first strand taut as it passes through said guide,

and means simultaneously imparting a twist, at said guide, to said combination strand to interlock the two strands and preserve the filamentized loop form of the second strand on the first strand in the combination strand.

6. In a method of forming looped yarn,

the steps of moving a first integral strand in axial direction at a first, lower speed,

moving a second multi-fibered strand in the same axial direction at a second, higher speed,

simultaneously moving both of said strands into a gaseous turbulence zone effective to separate the fibers of said second strand, the higher speed of said second strand converting said second strand to loop form along the length of the first strand, and the lower speed of the first strand maintaining it taut to resist separation of the fibers,

substantially simultaneously, at the point of filamentization, imparting a twist to the two strands to interlock them and preserve the loop form produced by the fastest strand,

and moving the combined strands away from the point of filamentization at the lower speed of the first strand.

7. The invention of claim 6 including wetting the second strand with size before moving it into the gaseous turbulence zone, and in the turbulence zone removing at least part of the moisture of the size to set the solids of the size and thus fix the filamentized fibers in the filamentized condition.

8. In a method of forming looped yarn,

the steps of moving a first integral strand in axial direction at a first, lower speed, to a combining point,

moving a second multi-fibered strand in the same axial direction at a second, higher speed, first through a gaseous zone of turbulence effective to separate the fibers of said second strand and maintain the fibers in generally straight filamentized condition, and thence to said combining point,

at the combining point, moving the two strands into contact with one another, the higher speed of said second strand converting said second strand to loop form along the length of the first strand, and substantially simultaneously with contact of the two strands, imparting a twist to the two strands to interlock them and preserve the loop form produced by the faster strand,

and moving the combined strand away from the combining point at the lower speed of movement of the first strand.

7 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,026,736 1/1936 Gruber.

2,328,074 8/1943 Hunter 264-168 2,986,868 6/1961 Tallis et al. 57l57 3,025,588 3/1962 Eilerman 57140 XR 3,026,597 3/ 1962 Swaney 281.4 3,091,018 5/1963 Rees 57-140 XR 3,097,412 1/1963 Becher 281.4 3,104,516 9/1963 Field.

FOREIGN PATENTS 828,641 2/1960 Great Britain.

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner W. H. SCI-IROEDER, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 57-12, 162 

